a wish and a present for 2012

Dear reader, thank you for following my blog!

I know I don't post that often and at irregular intervals, so thank you for sticking with me. That will probably stay the same next year, as I'm still a full time student and a night time artist.

But I've got something for you to look forward to! At the end of each month I will post one of these for the upcoming month:

January 2012

It's a desktop background for January and it's all for you - click to download and set as background! (edit: link now works, lol)

Each month will feature some of my lovely lampwork glass growth or tentacles with the month handwritten (in Dutch) in good old pen & ink (well, Ecoline). Something pleasant yet practical. ;-)

January 2012 features fungi... Enjoy!

Have a wonderful 2012!!!

And here's something else to look forward to: aarghh's coming back to Antwerp for this wonderful project:

The one and only Lolly Pop-Up store!

helping out: magick4terri

Late night post: Terri Windling needs your help. She's a most wonderful artist, editor, author, and blogger, a generous and inspiring person who is facing serious issues at the moment.

Magick 4 Terri is an auction that runs until Dec. 15, with many wicked cool offers from authors, illustrators and artists like Neil Gaiman, Brian & Wendy Froud, Alan Lee, Charles Vess, Cory Doctorow, Cassandra Clare, ... !!! Try to contain yourself, it's seriously awesome. :-D

So if you are a fan, you can bid on one or more items by your favorite author or artist, win it (with a bit of luck) and do some good at the same time. You can see how it works on this page.

You can also offer something yourself, as I did this brooch:

Bids start at $30 and I take care of the shipping costs. Good luck!

blowing bubbles!

I reduced the price of my bubbles necklaces as I'm concentrating on other collections now. Wouldn't they make a lovely holiday gift? ;-)

brown, orange and green

pink, light yellow and warm green

tea rose orange & swirly green

dark green, yellow and lilac (with green dots)

yellow, dark blue and green

Meanwhile I'm busy working on my papers...deadlines are approaching way too fast (as usual). I just have to start writing! How come it's always that hard just to start?!

However, research on my paper on dance theatre brings me to exciting new places: the world of traditional Indian dance mixed with contemporary narratives at the December Dance festival in Bruges. This is Akram Khan, the curator of the festival talking about Kathak, a classical dance from North India:
:

Lost at E minor*

A musical analysis due tomorrow:  The 1st part, an Allegro poco, from Vivaldi's bassoon concerto RV 484 in E minor. Have a listen:

I used to be good at this! Now I'm mostly staring at the black mass of notes with a rather puzzled expression on my face. Authentic cadences where? I-IV-V-I which way? My musical abilities are getting rusty! Oh well, I'll just have to work a little harder than before (and I'm not quite used to that...LOL).

It's for one of the few musicological courses left on my curriculum for my BA in musicology which I hope to get next (school) year. I'm considering to take on another major, in Fine Arts so I could at least do some research on glass, but I'll have to find out if that's realistic.

*Lost a E Minor is actually a blog on art & design! If you're in need of inspiration and food for thought, that's the place to be.

I'd better get off the internets and back to work now...

look over my shoulder: work in progress

soldering the fine silver settings on the sterling silver pendants (without bail, that gets soldered on last)

this is part of a pair of earrings a bit like these: filing off excess solder, texturing, brushing and polishing inside the setting; getting ready to set the cabochon

a pendant after the setting: finishing off by sanding, cleaning and polishing

Did you know Aarghh has its own fresh Facebook page?

Happy Halloween from Knopff, Ensor & me!

gems found at Mu.zee in Ostend

on vacation mode...

...so I'm taking you with me:

gazing through a crystal ball...

Hokusai's Kōshu Inume-tōge (The Inume pass in the Kai province), subject of my comparative paper of his and Caspar David Friedrich's mountain landscapes.

   Since my sixth year I have felt the impulse to represent the form of things; by the age of fifty I had published numberless drawings; but I am displeased with all I have produced before the age of seventy. It is at seventy-three that I have begun to understand the form and the true nature of birds, of fishes, of plants and so forth. Consequently, by the time I get to eighty, I shall have made much progress; at ninety, I shall get to the essence of things; at a hundred, I shall certainly come to a superior, undefinable position; and at the age of a hundred and ten, every point, every line, shall be alive. And I leave it to those who shall live as I have myself, to see if I have not kept my word.

Hokusai wrote this introduction for his 36 views of Mount Fuji (1830) which he published when he was in his seventies. He kept on painting.

This is reassuring... I've always felt that developing as an artist, maturing into your own style, takes lots of time and shouldn't be rushed. I think that's why I've shied away from taking lots of art classes -I have done a few, but just to learn the technical basics (drawing, lampworking, metalsmithing) so I could work on it by myself afterwards. I feel I have still a long way to go, so much to learn, but it doesn 't worry me. On the contrary, it gives me a rare sense of serenity. I read this wonderful reminder (and Hokusai's quote) on Terri Windling's blogpost Growing into your work.

been busy...

silver lining

...but all's well: passed my exams, spent some quality time melting things & creating in the studio, participated in a fun project, restocked my Etsy shop and now working on my 2 remaining exams, writing a paper on the oldest printed book (hint: it isn't Gutenberg's Bible!) and one on comparing Hokusai & Friedrich. Good times!

auf dem Wasser zu singen

a treasury on Etsy, in greens and blues, inspired by flickering water surfaces and tree groves, based on Schubert's song...



Drat, now I want to climb on a little boat on a lake and do nothing but float to the center, a foot in the water. And to get serenaded. But I'd better get back to the books... *sigh*

treasured & linked

Here comes the sun by atelier stellaria featuring a bubbles necklace:

...and framed cuties by fellow Belgian Etsian Octopurse featuring these delicate balance earrings:

And ecological link love from handmade Europe featuring the Napjesdrager! Thank you so much! Do check out the other ecological blog links too and let yourself be inspired...

and now for something slightly different...

I made a collage.

I know I should be studying, but I always tend to get inspired in these exam or study periods... Of course I'm not supposed to give in to it, so most ideas get scribbled down a sketchbook. But it is tempting, and now and then I have to let myself go a little...

With glass, metal and fire lacking I have to do with what I can find. Quite literally: this is a little collage made out of a handful of thorns, 3 butterflies, 2 bees, 4 cat's whiskers (probably Yang's and Shelley's), a bumblebee, a mosquito and a pupa. I've collected them over the years, they died of natural causes (or quasi natural, as one of the butterflies was trod on by a toddler :-/ ).
 
I love the organic shape of wings, of thorns, of whiskers...They seem perfect even though each one is different.

The work wasn't all that different from gluing murrine on a sheet of glass -only, with such light wings I had to take care not to breathe to hard! V-e-r-y delicate work. But boy it felt good! And now I I'm satisfied and can get back to the books. Until the next idea strikes... ;-)

glass heroes

A few weeks ago I was in London, visiting the V&A museum. What an inspiration! The contemporary glass section featured many of my glass heroes (mainly heroines actually!) and felt so happy to finally "meet" them...I didn't make a lot of pictures, but here's a little glimpse of all the beauty:

"lollipop"; design by Oiva Toikka & manufactured by Nuutajärvi glassworks

"Birdbath"a panel by Judith Schaechter (detail)

Colorbox 1-5 by Jun Kaneko

A vessel by Toots Zynsky which I forgot to take a picture of, but here's a wonderful video of her work process:

I forgot who made this gorgeous cast glass and can't find it on the V&A site... but look at the fantastic green hues and matte reflection! It could be a meditation piece...

And there was a Chihuly dangling in the hall...

Not glass, but sheer poetry:

Lehti, in photo-etched brass by Maria Jauhiainen

I have some more photos at flickr. Sorry for the rather short post, but my college exams are coming up and I feel the heat...so it's back to the books for me. Wish me luck!

and the winner is...

*drumroll*

...

...


Twelve entries for the give-away! Thank you so much for participating! :-D

Well, 13 comments but one of them was my own, and of course that didn't count.

(Wouldn't it be so very silly if I organized this whole give-away and then declared myself the winner? :-p Reminds me of a short story by Hugo Matthysen: the absurd ending of a Poirot case where he has all the main suspects of the murder gathered together, and for every suspect he argues why they had motives but wouldn't have committed the crime until he finishes his round, and no suspect is found guilty! So they ask him who actually has committed the crime, and Poirot replies with his meager smile and in his terrible French (Walloon) accent: "the murderer... c'est moi!" I thought it was sublimely silly when I was 15...)

Anyway.

The. Winner. Of. The. Bigfatbirthdaybashgiveaway... Is...

Congratulations Yoke!!!!!!! :-D A yummy, funny, silly and sweet infection is coming your way very soon!

Thanks everyone for playing! :-D

ghost cat

ghost cat!

...or how a full moon sheds light on the netherworld as well. Or not? Jack -yes, Jack!!- came by on his daily nightly walk and obligingly posed for about half of the shutter time of the camera.

He's by the way fully recovered from his scary face wound.  Two years ago I was able to lure him into my house when he was wounded and wild, and get him to the vet to get treated (and neutered as well...). When he came back he settled at my friend & neighbour's house and became a happy, food loving cat. For some reason he's not too keen to visit my home again, LOL! Too many veterinary memories... ;-)

birthday bash give-away!

This is the first birthday in years where I'm not a. ill, b. starting an internship or c. starting a new job, so it's time to celebrate! I'm turning 33 today so that's an excellent excuse to spread some infection love... ;-)

First, consider this collage by the awesome Jenn of Venus Envy Art:

yes, you have been infected...mwahaha

Look how happy they are, running and screaming in joy with their newly found infections... This could be you! :-D
Yes, I'm giving away a set of 3 glass pins from the Infected! series!

All you have to do is leave a comment here on the blog and let me know what you'd love to be infected with! You have 4 choices: viruses and bacteria, but also very nice cells and blood cells. Have a look at Etsy or Flickr to get some inspiration...

I will announce the winner on March 30th, so comment away! :-D Good luck!

Isaura in late sunlight

On a side note, would you consider signing this Petition for a spaying/neutering policy for stray cats in Ghent - the animal rescue where I got Isaura from (you can see more of her here) issued this petition to raise awareness about this -right now the city doesn't have a policy and stray cats are mostly all euthanized...This has to stop! Neutering/spaying combined with resocializing and finding new homes for the cats is a humane solution. This is what volunteer organizations like Kat zoekt thuis do, but with very little means or government funding. We're far from a decent general policy concerning stray animals here in Belgium, but every little helps, even if it's just a signature. Thanks!

infected!!!

I've been infected!!! Oh noooooooooo, what to do? They're all over me!! Get them off! Get them off! HELP! HELP! Help. HELP!!! HELP! H...

You know what, you could help me, actually...

Why eh...won't you take some of this infection and eh... spread it yourself? Eh? Eh? Nudge-nudge, wink-wink?

There's a fine choice of viruses:

And bacteria:

Or maybe you prefer these lovely blood cells:

There are even white ones:

And just really cute cells:

Who knew getting infected was so much fun? And spreading the infection even better?!

It's no use resisting, these are cells and viruses and bacteria that you'll actually want to show off.

Brought to you by yours truly in a healthy fit of of silliness. All infectious goodness on Etsy and Flickr!